RICHARD Blight won one of the most prestigious contests in the Worcester and District United Anglers' Association's calendar.

The Nigel Harvey memorial match, now in its 16th year, was held on the canal at Blackpole and Perdiswell and attracted a good turnout.

A long-standing friend of Harvey’s, Upton match man Blight fished from peg six at Blackpole to narrowly beat a talented field.

He put 6lbs 12ozs of bream, perch and eels onto the scales with all taken on worm hookbait.

Second place went to Kidderminster canal star Gary Owen whose mainly chub catch from Perdiswell weighed 5-12.

Jim Collins (Swan AC) took one big chub and a few bits for a third-placed 5-3 to beat towpath ace Keith Hunt (Phoenix) who weighed in 4-13 for fourth spot.

Meanwhile, Ian Goddard and Paul Lane tied for the lead in Malvern Anglers' Derek Evans memorial match on the River Severn at Holdfast.

On a bright, cool morning, competitors were limited to float-only methods.

The clear water and cool downstream wind were not ideal with most struggling to catch anything other than a few small fish, resulting in low weights.

But there was close competition for the winning weight.

In a peg near the upstream end of water, Goddard initially caught a few roach at depth but then resorted to bleak near the surface to make up most of his 3-3.

Lower down the river, Lane’s identical weight was made up of several skimmers using a sliding float some way out in the river.

The most frustrated angler was Chris Loveridge who having caught a good-sized bream missed putting the fish into his keepnet.

John Shaw finished third on 1-2 with Richie Webster and Nigel Bayliss joint fourth on 1-1.

Graham Rees caught 0-14, Lee Harman 0-13, Loveridge 0-12 and Roly Baldwin 0-6.